nuclear-news

Community struggle to get a referendum on nuclear power in Japan

Civic group battles to get support for referendums on nuclear power in Tokyo, Osaka. Mainichi Daily News, 11 Jan 12,   A civic group has been fighting an uphill battle to collect enough signatures for petitions to hold referendums in Tokyo and Osaka on whether Japan should continue to rely on nuclear power despite the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

The civil group called “Minnade Kimeyo (Let all of us decide)” started
collecting signatures on Dec. 10. The group needs to collect
one-fiftieth of all eligible voters in Tokyo and Osaka, respectively.
The group has already secured about 50,000 signatures in Osaka before
the Jan. 9 deadline — more than about 43,000 signatures, or
one-fiftieth of the eligible voters needed to directly oblige the
Osaka mayor to take necessary steps toward holding a referendum. As of
Jan. 8, the group had collected only about 78,000 signatures, about
one-third of about 210,000 it needs in Tokyo to file the
petition…… Eiko Nakamura, 57, one of the organizers of the
campaign, said the group had to fight an uphill battle mainly because
the government declared in late December that the Fukushima nuclear
plant had been brought under control. She said that public interest in
the nuclear issue has apparently been fading due to the prevailing
mood that nuclear power poses no problem.

About 12,000 people are involved in the campaign to collect
signatures, and many of them are housewives and student volunteers.
Eri Takada, 48, one of the 32 representatives, said, “I was
indifferent to nuclear issues and I had no experience in civic
activities. But I started to think about whether there is anything I
can do in the wake of the nuclear accident. I want to help create a
mechanism in which individuals think about what real affluence is and
their wisdom and opinions can be reflected.”
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120110p2a00m0na023000c.html

January 11, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, opposition to nuclear